Clamping device



(5. S. MORLAN CLAMPING DEVICE April 4; 1950 v Filed Dec. 8, 1945 INVENTOR. Gs or" 5/5 5 J27 urfcuzl Patented Apr. 4, 1950 CLAMPING DEVICE George S. Morlan, Redondo Beach, Calif. assignor of one-third to Walter A. Hite'and onethird to W. Earl Hirtensteiner, both of Redondo Beach, Calif.

Application December 8, 1945, Serial No. 633,700

7 Claims. (Cl. 248-305) My invention relates to clamping devices particularly adapted to hold articles such as clothes, dish towels, dusters, and the like in a secure but readily releasable condition.

An object of the invention is to provide clamping means of the kind described which may be made up in a variety of forms to suit different arrangements, for instance, for arrangement either as individual units or in fixtures comprising a number of units for mounting on the back of a closet door and the like. 7 v A further object of the invention is to provide a clamping device ofthe kind described of sim-' ple and inexpensive construction which, however, will be'efiicient for its purpose.

Still further objects and features of the invention will hereinafter appear from the following specification taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which I have shown preferred embodiments of my invention by way of illustration, but it is to be understood that the scope of the invention is not in any way limited by this illustrative showing but only as indicated by the scope of the appended claims.

In the drawings,

Fig. 1 is a side elevation of the clamp in a.

form intended to be individually mounted.

Fig. 2 is a rear elevation of the clamp shown in Fig. 1 partly broken away on the line 2-2 of that figure.

Fig. 3 is asection on the line 33 of Fig.2 with parts broken away.

1 Fig. 4 is a front elevation of the clamp shown,

in Fi l, and

Fig. 5 is a side elevation of a modified form of clamp intended to be mounted on a common sup-. port with a plurality of clamps to form a fixture;

which may be affixed to the back of a closet door.

In Fig. 1, the numeral It indicates an upper clamp arm pivoted by a pin II to base or support members l2 arranged one at each side of the arm. The pivoted arm [0 is provided with a hooked outer end l3 providing an inwardly facing gripping surface I4. A lower arm i6 is.

wire coiled around the pivot ll of the upper arm and bearing at one end against the arm and at the other end against one base or support [2, though obviously any suitable type of spring may be used. I also prefer to provide means for preventing arm I6 from falling away from arm l0 when the clamping surfaces of the arms are moved out of engagement and maintain the upper surface of the outer end of arm IS in sliding engagement with or closely adjacent to the lower surface of arm Hi by means of a pin working in a bore 22 in the outer end of the arm II]. By this construction, it will be noted that the surfaces [4 and i8 are normally in contact but that if arm I0 is rotated in the direction of the arrow shown in Fig. 3, the surfaces l4 and I8 will move apart from one another in which condition the edge of an article such as a dish towel may be inserted between these surfaces and the arm I released, whereupon'the face I 4 of arm ID will move against face l8 of arm I6 and will firmly hold the article since any downward pull thereon will cause still firmer gripping thereof between the surfaces.

In the form of the clamp shown in Fig. 5, I have provided a spring 24 acting to urge the lower arm 28 upwardly against the under surface of. the upper arm 26 and omit the pin and bore previously described with reference to Figs. 1 to 4. A spring [9 urging the upper arm downwardly is of greater strength than the spring 24 in order to insure a secure gripping action between the surface 25 on the inner edge of the rounded end of the upper arm 26 and the outer end 21 of the lower arm 28. In order to release the grip of either form of the clamp on the article supported, it is only necessary to move the upper arms I0 or 26 up wardly, which may be readily done by pulling upwardly on the suspended article.

It will be noted that in Fig. 3 the clamp is in-j dicated as secured to a panel 30 by means of screws 32 passing through bores in the'base or support members I2. I have shown the support member 34 in Fig. 5 in the form of an angular bracket. A plurality of clamps may be mounted by screws passing through the bracket on a strip of wood or other suitable material which is in turn. secured to the back of a closet door or other 

